St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-24
DINNERS IN HIGH SOCIETY.
style of New York AristOcrats at tn,
Table.

society people here" said well-known
social leader recently. lone is the kind
given by old New York families whose an
cesters have been here for generations.
These are of the most elaborate character.
! Why, Mrs. AStOr'S dinners. for example
are banquets. The table is delight to the
eye. 1t is set with the most exquisite china
and glassware, and picturesque with the
/ family plate. Candelabra are brought out
hundred or hundred and fifty years old,
i and their weight is simply marvellous.
| Then flowers are used in the greatest posi-
bic prOfusion, the display, however, being
kept strictly within the limits of good taste.
With the table so arranged the result is a
picture that does the heart of an artist good
to look at,
Then the dinner Itself. Who can speak
the excellence of real American dinner?
1t embraces everything that is good in all
the countries of the world. The yiands are
American. and have you ever stopped to re-
! fleet how many delicacieS we have for the
! table which belong here and cannot be found
in other countries? The eagle may be the
national bird, but if | ever deliver Fourth
of July Grafton L shall certainly ring in a
| tribute to the sterling merits of the canvas
back duck. And the teTapin, too shall
| not forget them, not While memory lasts and
the choicest sensations of the palate are tele-
| graphed in proper course land courses)
| to the brain. However to return. The
viands are American. The cooking is
| French, with suggestion of Italian, and
the comfortable and delicate fashion in
which the dinner is served and partaken of
is thoroughly and honestly German. Ameri-
cans can eat rapidly when they wish to do so.
When | was young fellow travelling
through the country for pleasure L have
often eaten lunch of four courses in the
! thrilling interval popularity known as five
minutes for refreshments. and [ have dis
posed of a considerable dessert between
| the time the engine bell.began to ring and the
wheels began to go round. But such feats
are simply tours de force. The genuine
American at his dinner in the evening has
always been accustomed to take more time
over it than the fashionable diner OF any
other country in the world with the single
, exception of Germany.
This is one kind of dinner, and very
good kind, too, that is given in New York.
The other kind l have referred to is that in
| favor among the Western and Californian
people who have come to New York to live
They have no old silver. They have no
heirlooms, and they are far too sensible to
buy them and have their monograms in
| scribed thereon, as they might easily do.
What do you say? That is never done.
Evidently You don't know New York
| society. l have known Boston parvenues
to buy English plate already sup
| piled with coats of arms, ETC., and
then faithfully live up to the pictures
on the silver. Here. this is a positive fact:
An English lord who came over here to
| visit some American friends was very much
| pleased to find that all the bowls pitchers
and glasses in the apartments devoted to
! his use bore his family crest. He COM
mented on the delicacy Of the compliment
! TO his wife. They found ont subsequently,
| however, that several years before their
American friends had appropriated the pic
! torial device for their own use simply be-
cause they thought it pretty and attractive.
When the guests chamber had been done
up by the artist. then admiration for it had
weakened, and the coat~of arms in use
in the other portions of the house was
entirely different. However, to get
back to the dinners once more. All save
the old American families give dinners in
the English style. Everything is austerely
! simple. The silver on the table is ham
| mered metal and unpretentious in appear
ance. You will find little silver water
| pitchers, holding, L should say. less than a
/ pint. There are no flowers of any account.
Sometimes few maidenhair ferns. That
! is all. Pretty hard on the florists. isn't it?
! No decorations whatever. LII the middle
of the table there is placed small golden
| tankard. There is nothing in it, haven't
any idea what it is put there for, and that
is all there is on the table. 1t looks very
bare. very bare, indeed. 1t is said to be
! the exact English style. If it is, l don't
| like il.
I'm serving the dinner it is served alto
gether too rapidly, according to my way of
thinking, They advocate Napoleon's
maxim that no more than an hour and
half should be spent at the dinner table.
| The consequence is that one course follows
another with breathless activity, and
| dinner is transformed from social cere-
mony into an eating match, and you have
| to look sharp, sir. devilish sharp, or
you wont get enough to satisfy your
appetite. Your plate is whisked
away before you are aware of it. 1t disap-
pears with the rapidity of one of those
! silver coins which the conjuror holds tenn
| porarily out to little boys, appealing to the
hungry edge of appetite with bare magma
ton of a feast Well. sir, this is an
English dinner just as L have described t.
| am sorry to see the liking for them gain
ing ground. l do hot go to them if | can
help it. l accept my invitations for din
ners so as to leave them out SO far as pos
slble.
But these people are not satisfied with
the English dinner. They keep up the
| English style to the finish of the evening.
And this includes gambling, which begins
almost Immediately on rising from the
table. o, yes; the ladies join in. The
most inveterate players l know are rich
women, and they usually VIM From
women? Well. young men, for the most
part, who cannot afford to lose And then
there are women who lose and cripple them
selves financially and bring on serious diff
culties and complications with their nus
bands. The favorite game is poker. And
it is surprising the recklesSnesS with which
the gaming Is carried on. Why, one
woman know lost 81 200 i'll Newport last
summer. These rich women say that they
amuse themselves playing. and do not see
why they shouldn't do it. Those who
disapprove of the practice usually leave
at the end of the dinner, before the
tables are drawn out, and they are laughed
at for their scruples and referred to as
prudes.
There is another English tendency that
is achieving vogue here more and more
every day, aud which is ILLUSTRATED particu-
larly at some of these dinners. And that
is tendency for men and women to form
perfectly proper and platonic friendships,
! irrespective of their domestic ties Society
women who are married are now disposed
to regard their lives as incomplete unless
they have secured the intelligent admira-
ton of some one of their male friends. If
he is man of ability, with some
reputation as speaker, a writer. or,
better still, as statesman. the
situation is all the more interesting, Then
if dinner-glyers want TO secure the nres-